Chapter 402 Annexation
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...
The echoing footsteps stopped in the dark dungeon.
Accompanied by the clamor, the chains fell to the ground and the prison door opened.
The two guards, one tall and one short, nodded and bowed, fearing that Lei Wen would take his anger and take their anger.
Lei Wen ignored them and kicked the "little skinned" back and kicked him into the cell.
With his eyelids twitching, Lei Wen's face became more and more solemn.
Even though he had experienced the cruel war, had harvested hundreds of lives with his own hands and tens of thousands of corpses, Simon's miserable situation still made Lei Wen feel heavy and his anger became more and more undepressed.
The two jailers looked at me and I looked at you. Although they were afraid, they still walked into the cell and untied Simon's chain in silence.
He slowly looked up and saw the scene in front of him through his long and dirty hair. A little joyful light shone in Simon's eyes, and when he saw the "little skin" next to him, his heart tightened again.
Only punishment is the punishment, and small skinning is rarely faked by human hands.
After several months of meeting each other, Simon will understand the ultimate of his skinning - his habits, his subconscious actions, his eyes, and even the smell on his body. Simon will never forget.
It can be recognized as if it turns into ashes.
Simon shouted with all his might:
"Sir Baron, he is not a small skinning, this is a trap..."
"Run--"
The walls suddenly burned and the fire element became particularly active.
...
In the forest.
The fire shone, reflecting the shadows of the real skin on the ground.
He tied the reins and turned the horse's head.
A huge cloud of mushrooms rose above the eldest son's castle, and the black and red flames engulfed the entire castle. It seemed that a demon king stretched out his arm to pull the castle into the eternal abyss.
Six or seven seconds later, the blast of explosion spread, and the vibration was so loud that it shook the snow on the branches in the forest.
"I am really..."
Xiao Feixi deliberately suppressed his expression and tone, trying to show some sadness, but he was becoming more and more depressed and uncurled:
"Hahaha...hahaha!!!"
"Leiwen!"
"Genius magician, famous general of the empire, and the Count who created miracles..."
"You finally died at my hands!"
Indeed, there are still many troubles next. Recruiting personnel requires money and rebuilding the eldest son fort, which may cost hundreds of thousands of gold coins together.
But this is nothing compared to the benefits that come with it.
Once Raven died, the Griffith family was equivalent to actually perishing, and there was only Slater, the Earl family left in Nord.
His Majesty the King cannot allow Slater to dominate the country, and someone will always take over the position of Raven to check and balance.
In terms of ability and loyalty, who is more suitable than his small skinning?
Raven's territory will become his territory, Raven's army will become his army...
Raven's woman will also become his woman!
When Xiao Pee Pi could not help licking his lips when he thought of Denise's appearance.
At this moment, Xiaosai, who was imagining a bright future, suddenly was stunned.
He found that there were many black spots in the sky at some point.
1, 2, 3, 4…
There are 19 in total!
Xiao Pee felt that his scalp exploded, and he turned the reins and turned the horse's head and was about to escape!
In another 20 minutes, it is a town. As long as you get there, you won’t lose all of it in public!
The war horse raised its four hooves.
It has to be said that Xiao Baixi is indeed a well-educated nobleman. Even in the complex snow forest, he can still ride the horse and gallop quickly.
However, the shadow on the ground was getting bigger and bigger. With the sound of wings flapping, a wind king fell from the sky and landed in front of the war horse.
The fully grown Feng Wang was nearly 3 meters tall when he stood on the ground, and looked even more ferocious under the light and darkness of the fire in the distance.
Faced with such a huge thing, Xiao Pixie's war horse under his crotch suddenly raised his front hooves despite the owner's instructions and directly overturned Xiao Pixie to the ground!
The wind king and the horned eagle beast landed, and the small skin firmly surrounded the fire in the distance was even blocked.
"Cough...cough!!" Xiao Feixi sat up, her cheeks twitching, and she tightened the long sword around her waist.
Lei Wen turned over and down the horned eagle beast that stopped him at the beginning.
Behind him, Simon, covered in wounds, was being helped down by Eric.
"Leiwen...!" Without asking how Leiwen escaped, Xiao Baixi let go of the hand holding the hilt of the sword and said calmly:
"...Okay, I admit that you won!"
He stood up and slapped the snow and soil on his body:
"Tell me, what do you want? Territory, wealth, or population?"
"I can give it to you whatever you want. After this time, I have no capital to fight you at all."
"But I have a condition too..."
Speaking of this, Xiao Baipi felt something was wrong, because Lei Wen hadn't noticed him again except for looking at him when he came down from King Feng, but instead whispered something to his subordinates.
Contempt was the most unbearable attitude of Xiaoskin. He walked up and wanted to talk to Lei Wen, but as soon as he took two steps, he was pushed back with force.
When she saw the person who blocked him, Xiao Baishai frowned and sneered:
"Dalton, you really betrayed me."
"I didn't betray you, little skinned." Dalton touched his burnt ears and stared at Little Skinned with a resentful look:
"You betrayed me first...betrayed us!"
当火焰腾起时，多尔顿心中绝望已极，还是鬣狗看在昔日曾经并肩作战的份儿上将他拉上了角鹰兽，还给了他一枚生命精粹帮他修补、稳定了颈骨上的伤势。
Although you cannot use fighting spirit now and your hands and feet are still a little numb, your daily actions are basically unhindered.
The explosion caused by the small skinning not only burned the eldest son's fort, but also killed 706 soldiers and 103 servants inside.
Among them, not only Dalton's friends, confidants, subordinates, but also his son!
Xiao Pee suddenly felt a little scared.
If it were normal, he could have ignored Dalton's resentment.
But this is not his castle, but a wilderness.
After stripping away the differences brought by the title, Dalton became a strong man at this moment.
"It's true that I was not thoughtful." Xiao Peeling lowered his voice: "But Dalton, you have to be clear that if Raven hadn't attacked, the eldest son's fort would have been fine at all."
"I can compensate for your losses, as long as you can find a chance to let me go..."
Dalton had no expression on his face.
The footsteps sounded from not far away, followed by the unique sharp voice of the gray dwarf: "Sir, you've found it, it's a full bucket!"
With a sideways move away, Dalton's face has a hint of vicious expectation.
Xiao Fei's face turned pale at this moment.
He saw an iron bucket in the grey dwarf holding an iron bucket. Inside the bucket, there were rats, weasels, and several almost hard snakes that were found from somewhere!
The mouse and the weasel pulled the bucket surface with a harsh scratching sound, which was once the sound that Xiao Peel liked to hear the most, but now it made him feel chilled all over.
The hyena walked up, pulled his arm away roughly, and dragged him to a dead tree.
Xiao Baixi wanted to struggle, but she could not get rid of the power of the hyena no matter what. Her body was shaking, and her teeth were bumping into pieces and cutting the voices intermittently:
"Leiwen, Count Leiwen! You can't do this!"
"I am a nobleman, I am a viscount of the Empire. You can't use this punishment against the untouchables on me!"
The rope tied him firmly to the tree, making him unable to breathe.
With a sizzling sound, the hyena tore open his clothes and exposed his chest and abdomen in the cold weather. The gray dwarf brought the iron bucket - many things had been poured out, but the chirping of rodents could still be heard.
Seeing the gray dwarf getting closer, Xiao Baixi felt that his hair was about to stand up, and his whole body was so cold:
"I give it to you, I give it to you. This time you won completely, okay!?"
"What the hell do you want!?"
Raven just put his eyelids on him, took the torch from Dalton's hand, and said to Eric beside him:
"Look, this is what I call 'naive disease'."
"I always thought that only he could deal with others, and others could not use the same means to deal with him!"
The cold iron bucket was buckled on Xiaopei's waist and tied to the tree with iron chains, firmly pressing against his skin. The mouse's slender beard shaved on his stomach, making Xiaopei's so scared that he wanted to cry:
"I said, I'll tell you all, this time, Simon was instructed by Anthony to do it!"
"In order to trick Simon, I..."
Lei Wen walked up to him and placed the torch at the end of the iron barrel.
The iron barrel shook violently, and it was the sound of mice and weasels inside running desperately.
"Ah!!!" Xiao Feipi shouted in horror.
He could feel his skin being torn by teeth and sharp claws. The pain was not strong, but the fear that followed burst out like a flood!
Reason was completely destroyed, and Xiaoskin now only has one thought-
Say something quickly and let Lei Wen stop quickly!
"I spent a lot of money to contact you people from Eagle City. It is impossible for Simon to catch you, and it is impossible for you to have no inner ghost..."
"Anthony actually had arrangements before leaving Nord. He didn't stand in court at the trial. He was already plotting against you when you hit Aivor..."
"The king has bad intentions to hand over the bloody heights to you. The bloody heights and the Slave Bay are originally one. If you face one, you must face the other..."
Topics were thrown out one by one. Xiao Ping was looking forward to a sentence that could touch Lei Wen, but Lei Wen didn't even blink, just listened coldly, as if nothing could cause his emotions to fluctuate.
Suddenly, Xiaoskin's body stiffened.
He could clearly feel the muscles on his stomach being bitten open, and his internal organs lost their restraints at this moment. A huge sense of emptiness came, followed by an extremely severe pain from the liver, gallbladder and internal organs!
Cold sweat instantly filled his face, and his muscles completely froze. At this moment, he realized that a person was in extreme pain and could not even scream!
Dirty blood seeped out from the gap at the mouth of the iron barrel, accompanied by torn yellow and white minced meat.
Blood gushed out of his throat.
At this moment, the pain suddenly disappeared, as if everything before it was an hallucination.
Xiao Feixi swallowed a mouthful of blood and stared at Lei Wen with his eyes tightly. He still wanted to speak, but he couldn't even hear the sound he said clearly.
This is when the body is dying, the body instinctively protects the brain, but this can only block the pain, but it cannot restore his vitality and physical strength.
"And...and, there are..."
The last word has become a long "公" sound, which is purely the sound of air surging.
The head tilted to the side, and the small skinned pupils began to spread, completely losing their spirit.
Lei Wen threw the torch at Xiaoskin's feet.
He knew something about this punishment, and in fact most of the inmates died of fear rather than harm.
After all, the rat's claws and teeth are limited in sharpness, so it is difficult to break through layers of muscles in the abdomen in a short period of time.
But small skinning is an exception.
Until his death, he was still thinking that Lei Wen might let him go, so he lasted long enough to survive the fear and truly died under this punishment.
Dalton took a deep breath and placed his hand on his chest to mourn his innocent dead son.
Simon didn't like punishment, but his eyes never moved away when he was given a small skinning.
There was no pleasure in his eyes, and when Xiao peeled his skin tilted his head, he breathed a sigh of relief.
Taking off the space ring on the small skinned hand, Lei Wen took a few steps back and raised his hand to shoot a fireball.
Looking at the burning trees, Lei Wen said:
"Let's go."
...
Late at night, Eagle City.
The square outside is still brightly lit and lively.
But in the hall, it seemed quite quiet, with only low talk constantly.
It has been 6 hours since the banquet should have begun, and the Earl still has not appeared. It is hard not to make people guess what happened.
Some people say that the Count may have discovered the traces of high-level monsters and led a team to hunt.
Some people say that the Count may have fallen in love with a lady from a noble family on the way back, but the family disagreed, so they made an appointment to elope, and this was to take someone to pick up the bride.
Some people also said that His Majesty the King did not actually give the Earl's fief before, but now he has sent a special envoy to hand over the territory of the Fox family to the Earl. Now he is meeting with the special envoy.
Of course, these gossips are very small, and the version is still being updated over time. Soon, the woman that Lei Wen went to pick up, which did not exist, had become a man.
Only a few orphans including Hoyaz did not participate in this kind of chat.
In their eyes, a faint trace of uneasiness flashed.
My father was not here, and Eric, Hyena, Link and others were not here either. This must be carrying out some secret missions, and it was a secret mission that required force.
But this time, there is no share in their mission.
Suddenly, the candles in the hall shook for a moment, and the slightly cold wind blew, and the door opened.
Everyone's eyes fell at the door, and then they stood up and saluted:
"Sir Earl!" In the eyes of everyone, Lei Wen walked into the hall with a warm smile on his face. Behind him, 18 men who had previously followed him were in a row.
"Sorry, I've kept everyone waiting for a long time." Lei Wen smiled and said, "I handled some private matters."
"Fiona, the banquet continues!"
Music was played in the corner, the side door opened, and a waiter walked in with a cake that was as high as 6 layers.
"Everyone has been waiting for so long, I won't talk much nonsense." Lei Wen raised a glass of angel tears: "Let's cheers for the future of the Griffith family!"
Officials at all levels in the hall raised their glasses and shouted: "For the Griffiths family!"
Drinking a cup of angel tears, Lei Wen took the bread knife from the waiter, and the first one cut a piece of the cake up and down, and then the maid stepped forward, divided the cake, and delivered them to everyone.
Feili's second son Baido stuffed a piece of bacon into his mouth, then used wine to squint, and hugged his eyes to his father:
"Father, do you want to know what the Count took us to do?"
"Don't want to." Fili displays his usual timid or cautious qualities:
"Always remember that the Count needs us to know, and we will know naturally; if we don't need us to know, then don't ask around."
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Baiduo didn't intend to say it, but just wanted to joke with his father. When he heard this reply, he felt a little bored. He pouted, stood up and took the cake from the maid's hand and focused on dealing with it.
Next to him, the government official, Kuman, led by Xue Feng, just patted his son Hencedon's thigh and silently pushed a plate of meat in front of his son.
Kou Lu, the government official in Hero, gracefully put the bacon into his mouth and chewed it, while whispering, "Didn't you encounter any trouble?"
"No, don't worry." Magde also sat very well: "In fact, it's real combat..."
"Okay, don't say it anymore." Kou Lu stopped his son's words: "Some things are clear to you; if you don't know whether to say it, then you shouldn't say it."
"Yes, father." Magde stopped talking and silently poured wine for Koulu.
At the corner of the hall, the clerk Junasheng had an old face that was almost blooming with a smile. He kept looking at Pip, and the pride on his face was clearly visible.
Lord Earl, this time he only brought 18 people out, including Pip.
What's this?
This is trust! There is no false trust at all!
After more than 8 years in Eagle Town, their family has finally gained a firm foothold.
From now on, it was not Junason who took care of Pip, but Pip, the son, supported the pillars of the family!
Soon, everyone basically stopped the knife and fork in their hands, began to raise their wine glasses and wander around, chatting with people.
Originally, there should be very little time for a banquet. If you didn’t wait too long and were really hungry today, you wouldn’t have spent a whole piece of time eating.
Lei Wen had already filled his stomach at this time and was walking around the hall with a glass of wine. Whenever he went, someone would come to him to toast him.
Officials at all levels in the territory were very sensible. After celebrating Lei Wen and sending a few blessings, they would leave spontaneously and would never disturb the Count too much.
Although the officers enforced orders in the army, they were even more relaxed at the cocktail party. Some people even dared to jokingly say the gossip that had previously guessed Lei Wen.
Lei Wen was not angry either. He knew that the officers were asking him for a fight, and the subtext was—
If there is such a thing next time, you have to bring us!
Hoyaz looked at him with a gaze, thinking of congratulating Raven, but the uneasiness in his heart broke out again, and he was worried about gains and losses for a moment.
I don’t know if it’s an illusion, but he always feels that his father is not as gentle and kind as usual, but has more sharp and majestic.
Finally, Lei Wen walked to their table.
"How is it? Are you anxious?" Lei Wen said with a smile.
"No hurry, no hurry!" Hoyaz felt much more relaxed and raised his glass:
"My father, I wish you good health and longevity!"
The orphans next to them also raised their wine glasses: "I wish my father good health and longevity!"
Elsewhere, Lei Wen touched his lips with a glass of wine, but here he raised his glass and drank the wine in one go.
Putting the empty cup on the table, Lei Wen's eyes swept across the orphans and finally landed on one of them:
"Youmin, do you have nothing to say to me?"
"My father, I'm stupid and I don't know what to say..." You Min scratched the back of his head.
"Oh..." Lei Wen sighed.
He raised his right hand, and the magic power flowed quietly. With a shiny sound, a long sword from his waist jumped out of the scabbard and fell into his hand.
A line of words was engraved on the sword: "Dedicated to our dear father."
That was the "Love Father's Sword" created by the orphans six years ago for Lei Wen. Over the past six years, Lei Wen will wear it at his waist whenever and wherever he is.
This sudden scene quickly calmed the scene, and everyone's eyes focused on Lei Wen.
You Min's face turned yellow, and he widened his eyes: "Father——"
Whoosh.
An arc of light passed by.
Youmin's head jumped high and landed on the table with a thud.
The corpse still standing on the ground, with blood gushing high on the neck.
Fourier next to him knelt down as soon as he softened his knees: "My father, I was wrong, I shouldn't..."
However, before his knees landed, Lei Wen had already swung his sword like thunder and slashed his head high.
Then there was another sword, and Bigo, who was quietly retreating, was not spared.
Shine-
With his backhand, Lei Wen turned around and left the hall without looking back.
In the hall, there was silence.
Hoyaz looked at the three people's heads in horror, and then at his companions.
Banks was thinking and frowned; Lennon seemed unable to accept what had happened, and was stunned at the sword on the table.
If such a thing happens, the banquet will certainly not be able to continue.
All kinds of speculations were quietly circulating under the table.
But soon, these speculations disappeared - as Simon appeared in everyone's sight again, the truth was revealed.
Simon usually acted cautiously, and that time he disappeared was during the investigation.
Only the orphans in the flight brigade can know Simon's whereabouts well; only they can make Simon let go of his guard.
Afterwards, the large amount of gold coins found from the residences of Youmin, Fourier and Bigo proved this speculation.
And as various details spread, the complete process is no longer a secret.
It was Xiao Piping who sent people to contact these three people and gave them 200 gold coins, saying that some mercenaries worship Simon and hoped that they would help to create a "accidental encounter".
"Damn, these three stupid guys who are smoking!" Lennon, who learned the truth, cursed:
"Don't they have brains!? You can get 200 gold coins by arranging a meeting. How can such a good thing happen in the world??"
"So they died unjustly." Banks, wearing gold-rimmed glasses, was quite calm:
"My father, it's not that he didn't give them a chance."
"I'm not saying that they died wronged, I mean, I mean..." Lennon rubbed his hair:
"Oh, in short, my father didn't take us in that action, and he threw away the sword of loving father!"
"The three of them did a good job, so we all have the consequences!"
"Enough!" Hoyaz stood up and said, "Don't always think about yourself, you should also think about your father!?"
Lennon stopped speaking, his expression became more and more complicated.
Banks sighed a long sigh.
My father never expresses his feelings in a blunt way, let alone publicly say how much he values and cherishes these orphans.
But the fact is that the most precious Feng Wang was the first to tame them; each of their military pay was paid in accordance with the length of 10 people in the Eagle Army; each attack was also given additional rewards.
It can be said that Lei Wen spent the most effort and wealth on them.
But, among the group of people he trained so carefully and raised by himself, there were traitors.
"The crack has been created, and the deaths of those three people are far from enough to make up for it." Hoyaz said in a hoarse voice:
“A lot of things will change after that, but we just need to grasp a little bit—
Let my father see our value and our reliability again! ”
...
Simon's return and the orphan's betrayal are undoubtedly a big deal.
But soon, these two things no longer became the mainstream of discussion.
An explosive news spread throughout the province of Nord and became a topic of discussion from nobles to serfs.
The eldest son's fort was burned down, and the little skinned viscount died.
Before they could recover, more explosive news spread.
On the 11th day after the eldest son's fort was burned, the little skinned guard Dalton posted a message through the Skyhawk platform.
Dalton declared that Viscount Gunther, the death of Little Skin, was the work of the bloody Highland horse thieves, and the provocation and revenge of the horse thieves to the Nord Province and the empire.
While reminding the nobles to strengthen their protection, Dalton took out another will that Xiao Pingsai wrote.
The main content is to hand over the governance power of the entire Binzimann leadership to Count Leiwen.
All, including not limited to personnel, military and financial powers, were handed over to the Griffiths without reservation until the threat from the Bloody Highlands was completely eliminated.
This statement can be said to be a shocking moment!
Simon, who had been missing for a long time, had just returned safely, and the tragic death of Xiaoskin, was also in the hands of Raven. No one would believe that this was a pure coincidence.
"Is this really done by Lei Wen?" Hyde looked at the news on the Sky Eagle platform, his face gloomy and gloomy.
"Little skinning provocation is first, and Count Leiwen's response is not out of line." Jon said slowly.
"It's not a question of whether it's outrageous or not. It doesn't look like Raven's style!" Hyde pinched the beard on his chin:
"My people went to spy and reported it, and the entire eldest son fortress was completely turned into ruins."
"According to locals, the fire was caught for 8 days afterwards, and even half of Binzi Manchester City was burned!"
"If Raven wants to annex the small-skinned territory, there is no need to do so too much."
Jon guessed: "Maybe it's for the sake of establishing his authority. After all, since the Griffiths family has been promoted to Count, they always have to give the eyes a little color to the unsightly guys."
Hyde was still frowning, and there were too many things that were difficult to explain.
In fact, the best way at the moment is to write a letter or simply meet Lei Wen and ask about the matter clearly.
But I can't do this yet.
As a member of the Slater family, any of Hyde's actions may be over-interpreted by the outside world, making people think it is a political signal.
"Sir, the latest news." A knight walked into the door, saluted respectfully and said:
"Earl Raven has sent someone to officially take over the Binzimann leader."
Hiss...
Hearing this news, Hyde took a breath:
"Levin, what do you want to do?"
Even if everyone knows that Little Peeling is not sure how to provoke Lei Wen first; even if everyone is ready to accept Little Peeling territory.
But Lei Wen's actions were so fast!
The destruction of the eldest son fort was 19 days ago; Dalton released the news only 8 days later.
Lei Wen took over Binziman without even refusing!
This is destined to cause panic among the small and medium-sized nobles around Leiwen.
After all, today Raven can annex Binzimann's lord in this way, and tomorrow it will be possible.
Once someone is interested in helping the fire, Lei Wen's reputation will probably be a big blow!
But what happened next deviated from Hyde's idea.
There was no rebellious or fierce condemnation of Lei Wen.
No one has talked about this matter except for the nobles such as Mrs. Doreen, Viscount Broca, Baron Vessin, and Baron Kate who publicly expressed their support for Raven's actions.
It's like it never happened.
Earl Tyrone also remained silent.
In addition to silence, I was also sincerely surprised.
The demise of the eldest son castle was Lei Wen's means of establishing his authority, which Tailong could understand.
But the obvious effect of establishing authority is not within his expectations.
The nobles in the Nord Province did not have no opinions, but did not dare to express their opinions.
Just like after the destruction of the Fox family.
He suspected that even if the Slater family took the same measures, it might not be effective for Raven's action.
As far as Earl Tyron knows, several nobles who had some conflicts with Lei Wen during the Death Hand Cult War have quietly sent people to send big gifts to Lei Wen to "relieve" the misunderstanding.
If things can be revealed like this, that would be fine.
Just...
Starting from the original intention, Tyron is unwilling to be troubled and wants to give Lei Wen a face. Turning a blind eye to it and closing one's eyes is the most worry-free choice.
But with Lei Wen's reputation as he is now spread throughout the empire, the impact of this incident is destined to be limited to the province of Nord.
What will the other nobles react?
The most important thing is, what will happen to His Majesty the King?
...
(This chapter ends)